Hi my name is Mrs. Winkfield

Learning Letter

Dear ENGL 493,

In this course, all the work we did helped me to prepare for my future classroom. As I prepared a book talk, I reflected on the classroom that I am placed in and made a decision on what book would hold the most interest for them and how could I incorporate the book into lessons my students would enjoy. I also gained a better understanding of preteens and the struggles they face as they try to establish themselves in society in the book, 13 Reasons Why.

My mini-lesson was on the book, Night. I chose this book because I will be teaching the Holocaust unit when I student teach. I gained a greater knowledge of the Holocaust from the book and realized after teaching my mini-lesson that there is still a lot more for me to learn about the tragic event, before I can teach it effectively. I realized that the lesson I prepared did not fully prepare me to answer all the questions that were asked. This experienced influenced me to check out books from the library on the Holocaust. And going back to the book talks, I am reading Mous, the graphic novel, to see if I can use it in my classroom!

The unit plan was a hard project for me, but it really helped me to think about what I am teaching, how I will teach it and what standards the students will reach in each lesson. There is a lot more that goes into a lesson than the activities. I realized how hard it is to map out three weeks of lessons, include a fair grading rubric and what are the over all goals of the project. When we presented our projects, I stole a few lesson activities from my peers that I wish to use in my classroom.

The articles and books we read and discussed at the beginning of the quarter held a lot of interest for me. The readings that stuck out to me was the one on the dispositions of discussion. I want to teach my 8^th graders the nine dispositions when we get to our unit on effective speaking and listening. The concepts taught in, I Read it, but I don’t get It, were very helpful to me. The information helped me to address problems my classroom. I will always remember to question when I am reading, relate it to my own life and use the reading exercises in the back of the book.  The last article I enjoyed, was the one on pop culture and the importance of using it with literature. I can use film in my classroom as an effective teaching tool, using the techniques from the article.

As I have echoed throughout this reflection, everything I have done in this class has forced me to think of myself as a teacher. I have ideas for lessons that I could not come up with on my own, I have heard others input of their experience in the classroom and used it to avoid conflict. Insight from my peers has helped me feel more confident in myself as a teacher. I will continue to lean on my peers for help in my teaching career!

Sincerely,

Whitney Leavitt

American Born Chinese

            American Born Chinese, written by Gene Luen Yang. Is a humorous graphic novel that I believe appeals to kids at the secondary level. I love how the three separate stories all come together in the end. This book can be an effective teaching tool in the classroom. In the story we run into the problems teenagers face as they go through puberty, the need to be accepted, attractions to the opposite sex, identity crises, bullying and rebellion. We also gain insight on Asian culture and are taught valuable lessons from an Asian parable.  Not only is this story a great resource for teaching valuable morals and ideas, but also makes fun of Asian stereotypes. Much of the humor is drawn from thick accents, smarts, and what they eat.

            The main characters in two of the stories are teenage boys. This makes the character more relatable to students at the secondary level. In one of the stories, an Asian boy struggles to be accepted.  Acceptance is a theme that is dominant throughout the graphic novel. Once the boy finds a friend, he perms his hair in order to be more like a popular boy that his crush is good friends with.  It is also prominent in the parable with the Monkey King. The Monkey, after being rejected by the Gods, changes himself to fit in. In the classroom, this would be a good subject to elaborate on. Students can take textual evidence from the book and discuss possible reasons for why the characters made the decision to change. After further exploration, we see that the characters go back to being themselves and life is great! Moral of the story: be yourself!

            Another idea for a lesson, can be to pick out quotes that stereotype Asians. After finding textual evidence, we can have a class discussion on what the word stereotype means and why the characters are portrayed in this way. This is an important concept to teach. It helps students to not judge somebody by their race, religion, gender, etc. Just because somebody belongs to a particular group, does not mean they are the same as others of that group.

            I enjoyed reading this graphic novel. The pictures contribute more than the dialogue.  Quick read and yet so much can be learned from it!

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. I have read it about four or five times and it never gets old. This book is a great tool to use in the classroom for many reasons. First off the language is beautiful. Second, we get to see how two different families, or cultures fight and resolve a problem. Third, the main characters are younger, making it easier for students at the high school level to relate to.

            This play is full of fancy talk. This play was one of the first challenging texts I had to read as a freshman in high school. At first I had some trouble understanding particular phrases but I learned how to use footnotes to help me understand. Reading a text that is just above the students ability to read, helps them to analyze the text and pull out a deeper meaning. That is what the play taught me to do. I think I love this play because it was the first time I truly studied what I read rather than just skimming.

            Romeo and Juliet are from to families that have been in a feud for generations.  A great lesson idea would be to study each side of the family and pull out traditions, religious background, wealth, and other aspects unique to a culture. After defining what each culture has compare them and ask the question, What causes these two cultures to clash? What can be done to help them to get along?

            Juliet is only 14 and yet she falls deeply in love with Romeo in what seems to be a matter of minutes. This seems quite comical but also sets up for good discussion on maturity and how our age and experience affects the choices we make. Throughout the story Romeo and Juliet make some pretty crazy decisions. How do their ages affect those decisions, how does their culture?

            Romeo and Juliet is a play full of teaching tools! As a high schooler I remember doing an activity using Shakespearean language. I also remember watching the movie and writing a compare contrast paper on it. We also made masquerade masks just like the masks used in the masquerade in the book. I want to teach this book in my classroom.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I loved the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. There were so many different aspects that can be pulled from the book and used in the classroom, such as rejection, racism, bullying, alcohol, social justice, breaking away from tradition and culture. Not only would this be a good teaching tool, but also reading this as a future teacher, I felt inspired.

Junior had to deal with rejection when he made the decision to go to a school outside the reservation. Even though his reason was to gain a better education, his community did not understand. In a classroom setting a lesson can be taught about rejection by pulling from the text (perfect example would be the basketball game) and discussing the situation, Juniors reaction, and how the problem was/could be solved. Students can talk about personal experiences too.

Racism was another big theme. The Indians mocked the whites who came onto the reservation and hated the whites for being so called “rich.”  There is a clear separation between the two races.

Bullying is something teenagers face everyday. It is nice to hear about bullying through another teenagers perspective rather than a teachers. The author covers many different levels of bullying; we have those who are verbal, and several levels of physical bullying.

Alcohol is the cause of much pain and suffering. This book really gives a voice to those who are affected by alcohol whether it is first hand or second hand. This was one of those themes that opened my eyes as a teacher. Many students come from homes that are not the best. We have to be aware of the dangers our students face outside of school.

Culture is another huge one. Many funerals took place where we got a peak at a few Indian traditions. There was also talk that Junior was cursing his family because he was going to school outside the reservation. There was also the talk of the beaded dress that was used for powwows.

Although there are many great teachable moments in the story, it also has its fair share of inappropriate language, and behavior. This book is an easy read for young adults and the humor is quite intriguing but as a teacher I would most definitely run it my administration and talk with parents. This book can also be effective if we used parts of the text to supplement lessons.

Things Fall Apart response

“Things Fall Apart,” gave insight to the way of life for those who lived in Nigeria. Their culture and religion are tied together closely. The main character Okonkwo, was a firm believer in his culture and yet broke the rules and displeased the Gods quite often.

Toward the end of the book, white men came to the village and tried to change the ways of the natives. For me, it is easy to believe what the white men have to say because I have grown up believing in one God. To the natives, the thought of one God was crazy, they had spent their whole lives trying to please and be obedient to the many Gods they believed. It was their answer to having successful harvests, going to heaven or having healthy children. The white men who tried to save the natives, were causing the village to fall apart.

In my life I know that I should be respectful of other cultures. We see from the book that those who walk into a setting where the culture is different should not try to change it (at least not quickly!)  Okonkwo, who was the biggest hater of them all, disliked the white men and what they were doing to his people. They were brainwashing his people. Okonkwo had a burning hatred and wanted nothing more than for the church to leave. This is interesting to me because Okonkwo had grown up with such bad luck from the gods. He had been dealt with a lazy father, he had a rough start with his yam crop, he accidentally killed a person from his tribe when his gun exploded and had to be exiled for seven years! He also killed a boy who was just like a son to him, for fear that his people would see him as weak. This culture was so deeply rooted in Okonkwo and the other natives.

In the end of the story, we are sad to hear that the blind hatred of Okonkwo caused him to make some rash decisions that led to him taking his own life.  Even though Okonkwo was a respected man, he could not be buried and blessed by his people due to their culture.

“Things Fall Apart” was a great story that illustrates how life is for other people of different cultures. I love to hear about others way of life and how they compare to my own. This story has not influenced me to live by a different culture but has taught me to respect people of other cultures.